WeatherBrains Episode 1074 is now online (August 17th, 2026). If you are crazy about weather, this is THE podcast for you!
This week’s WeatherBrains episode is all about the Enhanced Fujita scale and the path toward implementation.
Tonight’s Guest WeatherBrain is the EF Committee Chairman. He’s the master instructor at the NWS Operations Training Unit, and he’s the Team Lead in NWS forecasters course development. He’s also acting Director of the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program at the National Institute for Standards of Technology, and he currently chairs and cofounded the Standards Committee on estimating wind speeds of severe storms within the American Society of Civil Engineers. Jim LaDue, welcome to WeatherBrains!
Tonight’s Guest Panelist is the Founder and CEO of Climavision. Climavision is a weather technology company that provides critical gaps in radar coverage, and improves forecast accuracy. He brings in more than 30 years of advanced weather observation predictive modeling, work spanning dual polarization radar, mobile and satellite enable systems, and the forecasting models that turn raw observations into sharper forecasts. Chris Goode, thanks for joining us!
Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com.
- Jim’s early background in weather (09:00)
- ASCE (American Society for Civil Engineers) (11:30)
- Who decided to update the Fujita scale in the early 2000s? (14:30)
- EF Scale Subcommittee (21:30)
- Bill under construction to improve assessment of tornadoes (33:00)
- Behind the scenes with other ways to rate tornadoes in new EF Scale (37:30)
- Re-analysis process in a civil and organized fashion (46:00)
- Damage exposure simulations in the future? (50:00)
- EEC (Enterprise Electronics Corporation) (01:00:30)
- X-Band vs C-Band radars (01:03:30)
- Benefits of Climavision high resolution radar and how it improves the warning process (01:05:30)
- Relationship between Climavision and NWS (01:08:00)
- Phased array radar – when will it happen and what about major radar gaps? (01:15:00)
- The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:23:45)
- This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:26:45)
- E-Mail Segment (01:29:00)
- Sneak peak at future WeatherBrains episodes! (01:32:00)
- and more!
Web Sites from Episode 1074:
Picks of the Week:
James Aydelott – Okie James on Facebook: Plume from oil/gas tank fire caused by lightning strike
Jen Narramore – 7 dead from historic flooding in Indiana
Rick Smith – Norman microburst timelapse
Troy Kimmel – Foghorn
Kim Klockow-McClain – Hurricane Lala Hawaii Damage
John Gordon – NASA Ocean Current Simulation
Bill Murray – Out
James Spann – Foghorn
The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, John Gordon, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.
